Michael Swickard's new novel about New Mexico

From abcnews.com -Newly released hidden surveillance video captured a New Mexico divorce lawyer raiding his client's estranged husband's house. The video shows Raymond Van Arnam and client Melissa Stonecipher breaking into the home of Stonecipher's husband, Anthony Stonecipher. Their mission was to get Melissa Stonecipher's belongings back from the Alamogordo home. But Anthony Stonecipher had installed cameras around the property and they captured Van Arnam pounding and kicking the home's front door and later gaining access to the back of the house Oct. 28, 2011. More News New Mexico

From reuters.com - The first defendant in a conspiracy involving leaders of a tiny New Mexico border town who ran guns to violent Mexican drug cartels has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison, U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said on Thursday. Judge Robert Brack sentenced Vicente "Tito" Carreon to 46 months in prison on Wednesday in federal court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Pitman said. Brack also ordered three years of supervised release for Carreon. Though not a ringleader in the larger conspiracy, Carreon was observed at a stash house concealing 20 9 mm pistols in luggage later taken by village truck to a bus station in El Paso, Texas, in January 2011, according to the indictment. More News New Mexico

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - by James Barron - PORTLAND -- This is when clutch players respond. With the momentum waning, the crowd siding with the underdog and all that's on the line is a game and a season. This was when Kendell Williams arrived. What the 6-foot-3 sophomore did in the waning moments of fifth-seeded The University of New Mexico's 75-68 win over No. 12 Long Beach State in the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on Thursday went beyond the all-too important baskets he hit. Williams proved himself to be an all-around asset to the Lobos with his defense and his cool demeanor. He brushed off the significance of his 3-pointer with 4:38 left in the second half that tilted the advantage to UNM, 62-61. The same with the running hook shot he hit with 85 second left that boosted the Lobos (28-6) to a 70-66 lead. Of course, he already had his mind on Saturday's matchup with No. 4 Louisville, a 69-62 winner over 13-seed Davidson, for the right to go to the Sweet 16. And it's that complete package that makes UNM head coach Steve Alford drool over Williams' potential. "He's always had that ability to make really big plays, if not by pass, by shot or by the free-throw line," Alford said. "Or now what he's developed into, which has been unappreciated all year, is the type of defensive player he is." Read more

Townhall - The current state of the debate over climate change, its causes and effects, was put into just a few comprehensive words by that eminent political scientist Randy Newman: "It's a jungle out there/ Disorder and confusion everywhere...." Which is what happens when scientists decide they have to be politicians, activists, propagandists or all of the above in a righteous cause, or at least a self-righteous one. They wind up getting carried away, and their judgment vanishes along with their ethics.
After all, anything's fair in love and war -- and debates over climate change. The result isn't science but ideology.

Torquemada

See the misadventures of one Peter Gleick. And, before him, the whole, encyclopedic saga of Climategate with its cache of emails showing scientists being anything but scientific. Instead, they sounded like a cabal of Grand Inquisitors determined to protect the faith by expelling any heretics from their closed ranks.

Peter Gleick

It's a story as old as Galileo's trial, and the climateers' attempts to suppress dissenting opinions may prove just as futile. For no matter how determined the censors are, some scientist somewhere is going to refuse to shut up. Much like Galileo Galilei, after being forced to recant his heresy about the Earth moving around the sun, is said to have muttered under his breath: Eppur si muove! And yet it moves. These days a professor may not lose his head for saying what he believes but his academic tenure. Or he may find he can't get his research published. Even if censoring him requires monkeying with a memo or redefining the whole peer-review process. Yet some scientists will speak up anyway, if only in private. Or maybe at a small, intimate gathering sponsored by the Heartland Institute. Read full column here: News New Mexico

(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) – From now through March 31, PNM will donate $1 toward planting a grove of native trees with Tree New Mexico for every new signup to its paperless billing program.“Customers sign up for our paperless billing option to reduce clutter in their homes and businesses and reduce the resulting waste that usually goes into landfills,” said Dan Drennan, PNM customer program manager. “From now through the end of the month, customers who sign up will also help us grow the size of the grove of native trees that we’ll help Tree New Mexico plant this year.”

For every new signup during this period, PNM will donate $1 to Tree New Mexico toward planting a grove of native New Mexico olive trees somewhere along the Rio Grande bosque. The tree species, forestiera neomexicana, benefits soil stability in riparian areas, does well in arid climates and provides food for birds.

“We’re thrilled to help encourage PNM customers to reduce a significant waste stream while benefitting the environment through the planting of native trees,” said Suzanne Probart, executive director of Tree New Mexico. The location of the grove has not yet been determined, but its size will be determined by PNM customer participation in the program through March 31, up to a total size of 400 trees.

Customer can sign up for paperless billing online and support this effort by visiting PNM.com/trees through March 31.

Albuquerque Journal - A federal judge Wednesday handed a 46-month prison term to the first defendant to be sentenced in a gun-smuggling case that one year ago swept up the Columbus mayor, police chief and a village trustee. Judge Robert Brack declined a prosecutor’s request to give Vicente Carreon a stiffer sentence, citing the man’s “minor part” in a conspiracy in which straw buyers, or substitute customers, bought about 200 firearms from a dealer in Chaparral and sent them to Mexican drug gang members who had placed the orders.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Lichvarcik argued that Carreon, 27, deserved a prison sentence of up to seven years and three months under federal guidelines, because the gun smuggling caper endangered national security and helped fuel “armed conflict” in Mexico’s bloody drug battles. Read full story here (subscription required) News New Mexico

Slow and Tedious: Guilty Plea on Gun Charges Leads to a 46 Month Prison Term for Carreon

NMPolitics - With Greg Sowards fighting for his political life and Heather Wilson trying to knock him out, the Republican U.S. Senate primary has become especially nasty in the final two weeks before Saturday’s preprimary nominating convention.
Sowards has been particularly harsh, sending at least three letters and a flyer to delegates arguing that Wilson is a liberal who has been plagued by scandal and that Democrats “can’t wait to drill down and hammer Heather’s history.”
Sowards’ attacks came after Wilson sent a news release earlier this month hitting him for “lobbying Bill Richardson for Obama stimulus money to fund his company” and highlighting a news article that explored that issue.
Around the same time, someone anonymously sent the same article to some Republican delegates. Sowards alleges the Wilson campaign sent it, which would violate FEC disclosure rules because it was done anonymously. It’s a charge the Wilson campaign denies. Read full story here: News New Mexico

NewsNM note - We received the following communication from PNM Resources Chairman, President, and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn
Last fall, I wrote to you about a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that will add unnecessary cost to the price of electricity for New Mexico and the region. I am writing to update you on some recent developments on this issue and our effort to work with EPA, the State of New Mexico and others on a more reasonable approach.
As you may remember, additional pollution controls will be installed on our San Juan Generating Station so that it meets federal visibility requirements. That plant provides low-cost electricity to 2 million customers throughout the Southwest and the majority of the power required by PNM customers. The question is which technology will be installed: one mandated by EPA or one approved by the N.M. Environment Department. While both would meet federal visibility requirements, the state-approved technology would accomplish that goal for about one-tenth the cost of EPA's plan. Support for New Mexico's Plan Increases
A major part of our effort has been to educate key stakeholders on the implications of EPA's approach, and we have had a number of successes. New Mexico's visibility plan recently won another important ally: Prosperity Works, which advocates for low-income residents in the state. In a recent guest editorial, that organization wrote: Read rest of story here: News New Mexico